So Zulu, are you going to do up a "Joint Services Protocol" for your Joe update?

Maybe, if it isn't too much work. It would probably just be easier to copy and paste certain chapters and entries from Joint Publication 3-05 but that would be lazy, and if I can't do a "GI Joe version" of the doctrine outlined there to meet my self-imposed deadline, I'll probably leave it out for the initial version of the update and just add it in a subsequent edition.

Maybe, if it isn't too much work. It would probably just be easier to copy and paste certain chapters and entries from Joint Publication 3-05 but that would be lazy, and if I can't do a "GI Joe version" of the doctrine outlined there to meet my self-imposed deadline, I'll probably leave it out for the initial version of the update and just add it in a subsequent edition.

Yeah, I'm thinking there needs to be a Joe-version of almost every military protocol and document just because of it's joint-service nature and the other things that make Joe different.

The more I add/create on my Fort, the more things like that start intruding into my thinking. Since I have Air Force, Army and Marines all living on the same base, how do they all interact appropiately.

Also that brings up the Greenshirts. Are they strictly Army or are there Marine Greenshirts?

Are the crews of the Flagg and any other ships in the Joe Navy all Joes are are they Navy personal assigned to those ships?

Also that brings up the Greenshirts. Are they strictly Army or are there Marine Greenshirts?

I've been toying with the idea of making generic greenshirts and filecards. They'd be drawn from different services and would have a standard uniform (maybe loosely based on the Steel Brigade outfit?), maybe in multi-cam, or some other contemporary non-service specific pattern. Or maybe I can just make greenshirts for all four services (Army greenshirts in ACU, Marine greenshirts in MARPAT, Navy "blueshirts" in NWU and the blue Navy work coveralls, and Air Force greenshirts in Air Force flight suits and ABU).

It depends on how you're using the Marines in the Joe team, or would be using the Greenshirts.

Would it make sense for Marines and Army to serve in the same Joe infantry unit?

Like my Alpha Teams are the Infantry Units of the Joe team, with armor and such, mortar teams, etc.. So would it make sense for there to be Marines in there or should the Marines just be in the Delta Teams (the direct action units) and not have any Greenshirts?

Would it make sense for Marines and Army to serve in the same Joe infantry unit?

Probably not in the real world, but in the slightly more lenient fictional GI Joe team I have, yeah. While Army infantry and Marine infantry use the same fundamental principles in fire and movement, there are certain differences in tactics and equipment load out. For instance, a marine infantry fireteam would would consist of a team leader, two riflemen, and an automatic rifleman (SAW gunner). The team leader would be equipped with an underbarrel grenade launcher to go with his assault rifle and he would serve a secondary role as the team's grenadier. On a standard Army infantry fireteam, the grenadier is a separate position from the fireteam leader, so they would be comprised of a fireteam leader (armed with an assault rifle), a rifleman (armed with an assault rifle), a grenadier (armed with an underbarrel grenade launcher-equipped assault rifle) and an automatic rifleman/SAW gunner.

It sounds like a minor variation, but it sets up a lot of little differences with how the team will move and provide cover for itself and its fellow fireteams. The Joes can probably afford to cross-train and compensate for those differences and come up with a hybrid tactic, but in the real world, I imagine it would just be easier for a joint service commander to group the Marine infantry guys in one unit, and the Army infantry guys in another and not have to worry about operational incompatibility.

Oh, and I almost forgot, here's Captain Grid-Iron with the angle of his left hand adjusted and corrected:

For my Alpha Teams I suppose I can have an Army Fireteam and a Marine Fireteam, but that seems counter-productive. Especially with losses and training. The Joes would want to be able to interchange personal if they needed to to put the best units on the field and not keep one weaker (in terms of numbers).

So I suppose making the greenshirts Army and Marines makes sense, it's just working around the differences in the fireteam set-ups.

From reading the rest of your comments, I get the sense (and feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken) that it is your assessment that Adjutant/Personnel Management duties would be "below" somebody of Grid-Iron's stature as a top West Point graduate, but I guess I'll just disagree with you on that point. Granted, your experience with officer matters is above and beyond what I have (which is basically nil), and maybe that's why I feel like going into the AG Corps isn't a step-down from the infantry. I've always felt that the organizational sciences are an often overlooked but nonetheless significant pillar of just about any organization (corporate, military, or political).

First let me say this: There are some wonderful people who are AG officers. Some of them are VERY smart, and they are using their time in the Army to get a leg up in experience that they can take into the business world, or further government service. They often go on to earn an MBA or MFA or MPP. Some very smart cadets in ROTC, usually Business or Public Policy majors, sometimes go into AG and they gain excellent experience. The AG school is at Ft. Jackson, SC... along with the Chaplain School. Since Chaplains and AG officers are usually Staff Officers, I spent time getting to know some AG officers in training while I was at the Chaplain School.

Now let me say this: The quote you referenced at the bottom of this page is right on: it's single elimination in the career of an Army Officer, and they DRILL THAT INTO THE CADETS of West Point. In the Army, it's kind of like high school. Jocks are still cooler than the smart kids, and the only way to be smart and still be cool is to be a Smart Jock.

That's life in the Army. And even though Special Forces is "Really Cool". It's only like 2% of the Army. SF is sort of like the Lacrosse Team... Lacrosse is a tough sport, and you gotta be really athletic and everyone knows it's cool - but the main sport is Football. The Infantry is like Football in the Army. It's the main attraction. As my father, a career Transportation Officer puts it, "The Infantry IS the Army... everything else is just Infantry Support".

That's life in the Army.

Now, in theory (and what the Army says officially), every branch is equally important and a good officer should be able to excel in any branch. That's just not really true. Everyone knows that the Combat Branches are the "Real Army" and the belle of the ball is the Infantry. It's still one of the three most requested Branches for new Officers, and the 1st choice of those hoping to make the Army a career. Some guys love Tanks, and they go Armor. And that's combat, so it's OK. Artillery is similar; it's combat. But it's snickered behind their backs, "Well, if they really wanted to be a Combat Officer, they would have gone Infantry."

So if the Army is High School, the Combat Branches are the Jocks and the Infantry is the Football Team. Does that make sense?

MP's are like hall monitors... no body likes those suck ups.

Transportation and Ordinance (Logistics) are like the guys in Shop Class and VOTECH. They're not nerds, but they're not Jocks and nobody really knows where they hang out after school or on the weekends. They're probably smoking behind the school.

Intel guys are often like the Art class kids or Band Nerds. They're pretty smart, and sometimes they're really cool. Sometimes they're just History nerds. Sometimes they even pick up chicks, and maybe they can even fight because they're into Martial arts in their spare time. Maybe they even swim or run Cross-Country or something, but they're not really cool like the team sport jocks art cool.

All other staff officers pretty much fall into the category of some kind of nerd. Finance guys are Math nerds. Chemical Corps are science nerds. JAG are the kids who are really into Student Government. And the AG Corps are the Social Studies nerds who really want to be office monitors. And the Army/Marine word for nerd is POG - Person Other than a Grunt.

Now, I know this analogy is a little ridiculous and it's meant to be funny. But think for just a minute: That's how the Cadets as West Point are trained for their entire time in College. That's how they look at it. That's the social structure of their college experience, and it carries over right into their careers in the Army.

So if you're Grid-Iron, and you've been a high achiever your whole life, all your training is going to tell you: Get in the Infantry, Excel in the Infantry, and STAY in the Infantry!

Now you said this, "your assessment that Adjutant/Personnel Management duties would be "below" somebody of Grid-Iron's stature as a top West Point graduate". That's not true. I'm a Chaplain, I don't think of it in terms like that. I value each soldier as an individual.

My branch is pretty POGish/Nerdy... we're the kid in school who is very religious, a little awkward, but tries to fit in. Sometimes the chaplain is the Bible Thumper who can't dress himself, but hopefully sometimes he's a good guy who is easy to talk to... but he's certainly not a Jock.

The bottom line is not about if I think AG corps is below Grid-Iron's stature. The issue is that Grid-Iron would think that AG was below his stature, and he would have been trained to think that way by the Army, starting at West Point. All his buddies from school would think that way. So it's not so much that I think Grid-Iron is too good to be an AG officer; it's that Grid-Iron would think he was too good to be an AG officer. "Real Officers join the Infantry, and real career officers stay Infantry. Because the Infantry IS the Real Army." That's life in the Army. Just my two cents, but as an Officer, I've seen it, my dad saw it, and my Grandfather (who was an Infantry Officer) certainly saw it that way... and I think most Arny Officers would admit it. I'm sure it's different in the Air Force and Navy... but in the Marines and the Army, everybody follows the Infantry.

__________________
Why aren't there more Joes from the Deep South?
And would it kill Hasbro to give us a Marine Corps Officer?